All right, I have figured out how to get pictures onto my blog, but I am not sure if I can figure out how to intersperse them with text, so here goes.
OK, Mom, you have been asking for pictures of our Narnia Wardrobe (aka Kitchen Pantry) and so, here they are. I had done a bit of work on it before I started taking pictures, but you can still get an idea of where we started and how we ended up.First of all, when we got this cabinet from mil, the cabinet had been damaged by a flood quite a few years ago. So, we took the drawer from the bottom, which was the section that had been damaged, and had our Amish friend build a new drawer and attach the old front to the new drawer. Also, because the bottom had been damaged, dh had to do some creative repair to the bottom of the cabinet. So, the whole base of the cabinet is new added to the old to reinforce the weakened and half-rotted base. It was a bit challenging to devise a way to add these reinforcements while maintaining the look of an antique.
After the structure was repaired, then it was time to make it pretty. =-) I had started just sanding the cabinet, thinking there was only a peeling layer of finish on the cabinet. After a bit of sanding, I found that there were at least three layers of paint, stain, urethane to get rid of. So, with concerns about some of the paint containing lead, we decided to wait until after Annesley was born (only a few weeks away), and then I would strip the cabinet. It might have been nice to keep the finish as it was and just clean it well, but it would have been nearly impossible to match the new parts with the old. And seeing these pictures, trust me that it looks way better in these pictures than it did in real life!
(As you can see, I figured out how to place the pictures where I want them, but I haven't figured out how to rotate them, so for now, you'll just have to tilt your head. =-) Here is sweet hubby helping me strip the top of the cabinet.
It took several days for me to get the cabinet stripped, partly because of small bits of time to work in, partly because there were so many layers and they were so old. So, after it was stripped, I stained the cabinet with Minwax Dark Chestnut stain. After that, I realized that the cabinet looked too perfect to look antique, so I did a bit of antiquing. This meant that I added a few dings to the new parts, adding extra stain to parts that would have darkened over time, and sanding a bit at the parts that would have worn over time. I just did it lightly, but it helped.
OK, now I have had a few lessons on how to rotate my pictures, so the rest will be upright. Sure your neck appreciates that.
Lastly, I applied several coats of Minwax Polycrylic to finish and protect it. With my seven wonderful children, you can understand why!
As you can see, I am not much of a photographer, and there is still a lot of work to be done in the kitchen! I took some pictures with the flash on and some without. The lighter ones I took without the flash. It is nice because it doesn't leave a reflection from the flash. But, the actual color of the cabinet is more like darker ones I took without the flash.
And just for you, Mom, a picture of Elijah Grant eating some french fries.
And Pirate Grey hoping to pinch one! =-)
I linked this to:
